Blood Red
by Little Miss Erudite
Summary: Set directly after the end of 3x21. What feelings did Wayne's kiss awaken in Grace, and what will be the consequences? Rated T for some language, nothing major.


**Blood Red**

**A/N: Please R&R, guys, I live for your reviews :) Just to warn you all: it ain't a happy ending.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist. Never have, never will, sadly :(**

She'd known it was coming. She'd seen the look in his eyes when she told him she was engaged to O'Laughlin, that she was going to marry another man, and she saw it. He was still in love with her, she knew it. Her mother had once told her that eyes were the windows to the soul, and she could see straight into Wayne's. She saw his heart break cleanly in two as she showed him the ring, and her own heart echoed his pain. She wanted nothing more than to reach over, hug him, kiss him, tell him it was him she wanted, him she loved, not Craig. But she couldn't. She'd made her choice, and now she would have to live with it. She wasn't willing to leave the job for him, nor for him to leave for her, so this was it. This was as far as their relationship would ever go. Lingering glances across the bullpen and constant thoughts of what might have been.

So she expected him to find her at some point, to let her know one last time that he was still there, that she still had options. She expected it. But that didn't mean it hurt any less. To see him standing so close to her, yet so far away, was killing her inside. She knew that all it would take was one word from her and he would leave his job, would leave his home, just to be with her. Her heart screamed at her to say that one word, but her mouth firmly refused. And then he'd kissed her. With that kiss, all of her defences melted and she found herself kissing him back, her mind taking her back to the time when they were together. It was as though those past few months had never happened, as if they were still together, still in love. But all too soon, Wayne broke the enchantment and ended the kiss. With a final, tender kiss to her forehead, he was gone. She felt a tear slowly trickling down her cheek, and she raised her sleeve to wipe it away. She could deny herself no longer. It was Wayne she wanted, Wayne she needed. She couldn't, wouldn't, spend the next however many decades of her life staring into Craig's eyes and wishing they were Wayne's, couldn't walk down the aisle and pretend it was Wayne waiting for her at the altar. It wasn't fair to Craig, wasn't fair to her. If there was the slightest chance it could work with Wayne, she had to take it. She didn't want to be an old woman sitting on her porch, still wondering what could have been.

She sighed to herself and wiped yet more tears from her cheeks. What was she going to say to Craig? She did love him, after all, just in a different way from Wayne. He didn't deserve to have his heart broken by her. She'd known from the beginning that he was too good for her, that she didn't deserve him, and she was right. She hated herself for what she was going to do, but she couldn't spend the rest of her life being content with second best. Life was too short for that.

She would do it face-to-face, she decided. She owed him that much at least. Checking her pockets for her belongings, she headed to the elevator. Her mind was made up, and she knew in her heart that she was making the right decision. Craig was a lovely guy, and one day he'd make some woman very happy, but Grace knew that it was not going to be her. She was Rigsby's girl.

* * *

><p>The next morning Grace woke up with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Today she was going to do it. She was just going to have to bite the bullet and end it with Craig, explain to him that she still have feelings for Wayne and didn't want to string him along. As if on cue, the mobile on her bedside cabinet vibrated.<p>

_Hey beautiful x Just wondered if you fancy getting dinner with me tonight?x_

It was Craig. Grace sighed and looked at her clock. She had to be at work in an hour, but she was pretty sure today would just be monotonous paperwork for her. She could make it to dinner.

**Sure, I'd love to I'll be done with work at about 6. Pick me up?x**

She couldn't tell him she had something to talk about. Everybody in the dating world knows what those words mean, and she didn't want this to be any more painful than it had to be. Her phone went off again in her hands and she opened the text.

_I'll see you then x I love you_

She took a deep breath, then typed out the expected response.

**I love you too.**

It wasn't a lie. She DID love him. She just loved Wayne more. But she didn't want hurt Craig before she had to. At dinner tonight, she'd end it. Until then, she'd pretend everything was normal. Even with Wayne. Her heart started beating erratically at the thought of him, of the chance they were going to have. Of course, they'd face the same problem that ended their previous relationship, but she couldn't think about that now. There was hope. That was all that mattered.

* * *

><p>As six o'clock approached, Grace grew more and more jittery. She was checking the clock every two seconds, and could swear that time was moving slowly just to screw with her. She noticed that Jane and Rigsby were watching her; Jane with a knowing smile on his face, Rigsby with a quizzical expression.<p>

"Somewhere to go, Grace?" Jane asked, smiling at her from his couch.

"Dinner reservations with Craig," she answered shortly, before checking her watch, certain that the clock on the wall must be wrong. The rest of the team exchanged looks, but thankfully none of them pushed for further information. As soon as the clock struck six, Grace stood up and grabbed her jacket from behind her chair, shouting a hurried goodbye over her shoulder as she left. She just wanted to get this thing with Craig over and done with already.

As she opened the door that lead to the car park she saw Craig sitting smiling in his car, having just pulled up. She gave him a small smile back, and opened the passenger door.

"Perfect timing," he said, and leaned in to give her a kiss. She ended it much sooner than usual, and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm just tired from work, that's all. I need a good meal and some time to relax," she lied, and after frowning at her for a second, Craig smiled and nodded, turning to take the wheel.

"They still working you hard at that place, then?" he asked her as he drove.

"Quite. It's more boring really than difficult. It just gets so monotonous doing paperwork ALL the time, just because I'm the rookie agent. You were a rookie once; how long did you have to do the paperwork for?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, erm…about…2, maybe 3 years. Things don't really move fast in our world," he said with a chuckle.

She smiled in return, then went back to gazing out of the window at the passing cars. Craig glanced at her, but saw that she was preoccupied and didn't push her. That was something she'd always loved about him.

They passed the rest of the drive in silence, and soon enough they were at the restaurant. Grace had already made her mind up to do this after dinner, since Craig had made reservations. She was unusually quiet throughout the meal, something that Craig picked up on. As they left, he took her hand in his.

"Was everything all right? You were kind of quiet."

She nodded, then turned to him. "Craig, can we talk a walk somewhere?"

"Sure," Craig said, surprised. He began leading her down a street and turned into an alley.

"Where're we going?" she asked him, looking around uneasily at the darkness and remembering the many bodies she had seen in similar places.

"Shortcut to a nice park I know."

Grace took a deep sigh, then pulled on his hand to stop him. She had to do it now, before she completely lost her nerve. Turning to face him, she took hold of both of his hands in hers. "Craig, you know I love you, right?" she said, looking him in the eyes.

"Of course, Grace. Why do you even need to ask?"

"Just listen. Look, I love you, and I know that one day you'll make a great husband. But not to me. I can't explain why, but I just know that marrying you would be a mistake that I would regret later, and I don't want to hurt you by burying my true feelings and marrying you anyway. Please understand, I do love you, but it just isn't enough right now. I need more."

He stood silently for a minute and then grabbed her by the shoulders. "You stupid BITCH!" he shouted, pushing her up against the alley wall.

"Craig! What the hell are you doing? Get off me!" she yelled, trying to push him off, but he was too strong.

"You're ruining EVERYTHING, and you don't even know it!" Craig held her there for a minute, then an evil glint came into his eyes. "I know how to fix it. Oh yes, that'll work perfectly." With that, he reached inside his jacket with one hand and removed a knife, which he waved menacingly under her nose. "Haven't any of you stupid people wondered how Red John seems to know everything you're doing? Haven't any of you managed to join the dots?"

Grace shook her head, hoping and praying that this was a nightmare from which she would wake up soon. "Craig, Craig, please! Just let me go!" she shouted desperately, tears flooding down her face and fear coursing through her veins. "You're scaring me!"

He laughed cruelly. "It's about time. You don't know how hard it's been, pretending to be in love with you. I mean, yeah, you were a good lay, but-" the rest of his words were cut off as Grace slapped him hard across the cheek, leaving a bright red handprint on his cheek. He glared at her, furious, and grabbed her by the hair. "Oh, you'll regret that," he whispered in her ear, and then thrust his hand forward, burying the knife deep into her stomach. Grace's mouth opened in a silent scream as sheer agony erupted through her.

"Now, where was I?" Craig asked, removing the knife and wiping her blood from it with a cloth from his pocket. "Ah, yes. Ever since you started dating me, ever since I started showing up at the CBI, Red John has known your every move. Coincidence? I think not." He laughed at her shocked expression, then turned serious. "But now, Grace, you're not my fiancée. So what use would I be to Red John if I can't get into the CBI? There really only was one choice. If I kill you, but make it look like someone else, then your team will put all their efforts into tracking down the scumbag who knifed you. And me, being the grieving fiancé and all, well, I'll have to help them, won't I? And that, dear Grace, will give me the perfect opportunity to kill Jane. Oh, how Red John will reward me, knowing that I was the one who put an end to his nemesis! I'm sorry you had to die for this, Grace, but you left me no choice. If you had just continued on, had married me, we wouldn't be where we are now."

Grace's brain could barely comprehend what was happening, as the puddle of blood that was spilling from the wound in her stomach got gradually larger. She just gazed into Craig's eyes, and could see no trace of the man who she had loved, the man who she was sure had loved her. Instead she saw a cold-blooded killer, a crazy man who worked for a mass murderer. Her vision swam in and out of focus, and Craig laughed. "I'd guess you have mere minutes to live, Grace. Isn't it nice to be able to spend them with me?"

"Go to hell, you bastard!" she managed to gasp out, screwing up her face in pain, and wrenched the ring off of her left hand, throwing it at his feet. Just as she did this, she heard footsteps from the entrance to the alley.

"Grace?" It was Wayne's voice; at the sound of it, Craig began to run, and was soon swallowed up by the darkness. Grace heard running footsteps getting closer, and turned her head slowly to see Rigsby hurtling towards her.

"Grace! Oh, God, Grace!" he yelled, and grabbed his mobile. "Yeah, I need an ambulance please," as he waited to be connected, he took Grace's hand in his. "It's going to be all right, Grace, don't worry. It'll be fine." He heard a voice on the other end of the line and gave them the street name, telling them to hurry. He turned to Grace, and stroked her face with his other hand. "They'll be here soon, Grace."

She took a painful breath and stared up at him. "It's Craig. He's the one…working for Red John," she told him, taking shuddering breaths in between words. Rigsby stared at her, horror on his face. "Did that bastard do this to you?" he asked her, sheer fury in his voice. Grace merely nodded, her breathing slowing and her eyes closing.

"No! Stay with me, Grace!" he shook her by the shoulders, trying to keep her conscious.

"Wayne?" she said softly, gazing into his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

A tear rolled down his face as he answered her. "I love you too." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in the most tender of kisses. After a few seconds, he felt her go limp beneath him, and the tears began pouring down his cheeks.

"No! NO!" he yelled, pulling back and staring at her still face. "Grace! Come back! I need you," he sobbed the last few words and pulled her body to his, hugging her close. Burying his face in her neck, as he had done so many times before, he sobbed his heart out, feeling like a part of him had died with her.

He put his forehead against hers and kissed her again, begging her to open her eyes and take a breath. This was how the paramedics found him five minutes later, repeatedly whispering "come back," in her ear.

But she never would.


End file.
